Re: This data is increasingly useless...
"Only last week, my neighbour opposite had his plates pinched."
The thing is, stolen plates are cancelled when notified, then put on ANPR watch, which means that the only people who steal them are either stupid as all get-out or simply aiming to piss you off with mindless vandalism (usually the latter)
Smart crooks duplicate the plates from the same model/year/colour of car and don't touch the originals.
For what it's worth, it's estimated that 11% of cars in London are on fake plates, lots of duplicates are circulating, etc - it's mainly to beat the congestion charge but it's clear that using plates as a way of tracking any individual already comes with numerous "gotchas" when the kinds of individuals the Met want to track are normally the kind who'd use duplicate plates (and probably change them periodically too)
Biting the hand that feeds IT
